Editor's Letter: Game Plan: NAB

As part of my training for NAB 2013, I’ve deprived myself of water and lip balm for long periods of time, been eating breath mints for lunch and dinner, and have been hitting my heels with a hammer. How prepared are you?

Some pros making the trip out to Las Vegas this year have their game plans and expectations in order.

“While I believe NAB 2013 is going to be all about 4K, I don’t expect to see any reasonable solutions of working with it yet,” says Terry Curren, owner of Burbank’s AlphaDogs. “Handling that amount of data and bandwidth is going to require hefty new codecs. And, of course, professional-level monitoring — that doesn’t require selling your house to purchase — will also have to come out. So I would expect those things to arrive next year at the earliest.”

What Curren really enjoys about his trips to NAB are the new things you might find in the booths in the back of the halls. “These are the newer companies that get consigned to the ‘North Forty.’ And they are also the companies that introduce surprising new things that come from ‘outside of the box’ thinking. And, of course, there is always the question of whether Blackmagic will pull off something totally surprising like the Cinema Camera of NAB 2012.”

Goldcrest New York’s Katie Hinsen, who is at the show blogging for Post Magazine, is most interested in what’s new and developing in post in terms of gear and technology trends. “I’m always excited about the various panels on 3D, HFR, display technology and emerging standards. These shows are a great way to find out what’s going to happen soon, and get us to start thinking about better ways to integrate and adapt workflows.”

Another pro who will be blogging from the show floor for Post is Digital Factory Inc.’s president, TJ Ryan, who based in Los Angeles. “My main focus will be with the South Hall. I will be looking at monitors, projectors, Avid, Blackmagic, AJA and storage. I will be looking at new technology with Thunderbolt and expansion chassis. Any new drives and storage that catches my eye... I will also be looking at realtime streaming over Internet. And, finally, I will focus on the new solutions for DAM and MAM.”

Post Magazine is doing its part to help those of you who aren’t at the show keep updated on what’s new and newsworthy. In addition to our daily e-newsletters, blogs from industry pros, and booth videos, we are streaming live from the Post booth each day, talking to manufacturers and users about what’s new, the industry and trends.